BLP launches its first European Hotel Market Survey 2014 at the IHIF in Berlin

London will be the city of M&A growth in the hotel sector in 2014 according to a new report being launched by international law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) today. The report presents the views of over 400 hotel industry professionals.

Karen Friebe, BLP Hotels Group Partner and author of the BLP European Hotel Market Survey 2014, unveiled the research at Berlin’s International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF). The Top Ten highlights of the survey include 97% of respondents predicting growth in REVPAR in Europe in 2014, with over half citing hotels as having outperformed ‘traditional’ commercial property in the last 5 years.

76% of respondents believe London will see the most M&A activity in 2014, with Paris following at 49%. A number of respondents also expect to see an increase in private equity and High Net Worth individuals coming into the sector.

Karen Friebe said: “This is an optimistic outlook for the industry, hence the title of our report – ‘Confidence in a recovering market’. That confidence could time out though, as there is a debate amongst our respondents as to how long the recovery will last. A number of people we spoke to predicted no more than 12-24 months for the current tailwind.”

“In addition to the current buoyancy in the European market, we are definitely seeing increased movement in the wider emerging markets, notably Africa and South East Asia. BLP has also seen a surge of capital flows between Europe and the Middle East in the last few years,” she added.

Other strong themes from the report include increasing efforts being made by hotel brands to attract the lucrative Millennials market, the attitude of the hotel sector towards Airbnb and other holiday rental online booking sites and the latest thinking on the impact of TripAdvisor and other online travel agencies (OTAs). 21% of those surveyed say that their profits have increased as a result of appearing on TripAdvisor and similar sites.

The report also contains personal predictions about the hotel market in 2014 and exclusive insights from four hotel sector leaders, from Patron Capital, InterContinental Hotels Group and Lloyds Banking Group.

Top Ten Trends

97% predict REVPAR in Europe will grow – across leisure and corporate markets.

76% believe London will see the most M&A activity, followed by Paris at 49% and Berlin at 25%.

Nearly a quarter said online comparison sites such as TripAdvisor are boosting profits.

Over half expect to see strong inward investment into the European market and believe hotels have outperformed “traditional “, commercial property.

BLP carried out the research between January and February 2014. It is based on data from over 400 online interviews, with a cross-section of hotel industry professionals based in over 20 countries worldwide. Visit www.blplaw.com or follow us at @BLPRealEstate

BLP has been ranked by Chambers as the top-tier ranked law firm for hotels for 12 consecutive years. BLP acts for clients across the entire lifecycle of hotel – related projects, including investment and development, lending, mergers and acquisitions, management agreements, franchising, operations, health and safety, licensing, tax, intellectual property and litigation. Its specialist hotels lawyers acted on over £1bn of hotel-related transactions last year.

BLP’s Real Estate department is ranked in the top tier by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.